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Epilogue

What will Purdue look like 10 years from now? Whose lives will we have been changed because they intersected ours?

The epilogue of Megashift invites us to imagine a large gathering of people. Each person there was, in some way, brought closer to Jesus because of what you did. He shares some really cool stories about dozens of people who were freed from drugs, forgiven of sins, healed of diseases, and more.

What if we had a Chi Alpha reunion at Purdue ten years from now? What stories of people would you want to hear at that gathering? Are there specific people you'd especially like to see there, people who aren't yet a part of the group?

I'd like to see a professor (let's call him Dr. Higgins) at Purdue show up and tell about how he was healed from cancer because a Chi Alpha student was willing to stay after class and ask to pray for him.

I'd like to see a student from Bhutan who met a Chi Alpha student, someone who didn't even know Bhutan was a country. That student loved her, spent time with her, and shared Jesus with her. After returning home in the power of the Spirit, that Bhutanese student has led hundreds of her neighbors to Christ.

I'd like to see representatives from a dozen different Chi Alpha groups from across the country, coming from campuses that have a Chi Alpha because someone from Purdue was willing to go where no one else had gone and start a new ministry there.

What kind of people would you like to see?

Chapter 5

Believe it or not, but we've already reached the last main chapter of the book. There is still an epilogue and a few appendices left to go, but Rutz has finished making his main points.

That being said, let's take a minute to reflect on the last two chapters. Rutz has described part of the solution needed to facilitate this Mega Shift. If we start "doing church" differently, it will change the way we live outside of our meetings. Empower people in our meetings, and they will live empowered lives the other six days of the week.

It's not so clear how we can apply this to our local setting. Chi Alpha isn't a church really. Almost all of us belong to both Chi Alpha and a local church near Purdue. But maybe Chi Alpha offers the flexibility to try some new things and attempt to live out some of the stuff from Mega Shift.

If you haven't read Josh V.'s thoughts on the last chapter, I suggest you do so. I'd like springboard off of his response. He gave a real, concrete example of one way we could tweak our gatherings in light of the stuff we're reading in Mega Shift. I want to know what the rest of you think.

How can we best incorporate some of the things from Chapters 4 and 5 into Chi Alpha? Maybe our Ignite meetings are the place, but maybe they aren't. Do you think Josh V. is on the right track, or has he been rolling in the catnip? (I figured that was a more polite euphemism than some of the alternatives).

Maybe you have already experienced Chapter 5 stuff in the Chi Alpha setting. If so, when was that, what happened, and what was the result? What are some areas where we are already on the right track?

For example, I thought it was awesome a while back when Nate Hyland got up in front of everyone and confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord. I'd never seen anything like that in a "service" kind of setting before. I was really encouraged (edified?) by that. I think it's cool that he felt the freedom to just walk up, grab the mic, and do something like that.

What about you?

Chapter 4

That's sort of what Chapter 4 feels like.

Obviously, the author has some bones to pick with how the traditional church operates. In this chapter, he lays out thirty areas that need to be reformed in the Mega Shift. If you are like me, you may have been turned off by some of the sweeping generalizations he makes, and maybe you questioned whether some of his criticisms were credible. Perhaps our criticisms are valid, or perhaps sometimes he hits a little too close to home.

Our responsibility in reading things like this is listen to what God is saying to us through this book. Even if 29 of his critiques are wrong, perhaps there is one that the Spirit wants to highlight for Chi Alpha and/or Lafayette. So what do you think? Are there any of his points that you think are particularly applicable to our situation? What are some areas that you think God wants us to Shift into?

And one more set of question remains. Do you think that the individual house churches are the only answer to these issues? Do we have to entirely throw out the structure of the historic church and start over? Or are there ways to incorporate the Mega Shift elements into our existing churches?

Can we be like Frank "Cannonball" Richards and take the punch to our gut and keep standing?


http://youtube.com/watch?v=TlytmtStpdg

Chapter 3

Getting Ready for the Big Boots

Chapter Three begins to dive into the nitty gritty of the Mega Shift. Exactly how do we make the transition into empowered, everybody-ministry?

In response to this question, the author lists seven key elements that every believer should have in their lives:
(1) A new identity
(2) A new kind of empowerment
(3) A broader sense of responsibility
(4) A new freedom
(5) A new understanding of the gospel
(6) A far higher level of support
(7) A new maturity

The one that most stood out to me was #3, or as he put it, the "ownership mentality" or "responsible stewardship." The essential point here is that you don't immediately start off by raising 16 people from the dead all at once. You start with smaller faith goals that will stretch you where you are at and build your faith muscles.

That got me thinking, what are some steps we could take at Purdue? I mean, I'm sure there are things that will stretch us individually, and those will most likely be different for each of us. But what are some things that we can do together that will grow us and give God the opportunity to display his power on campus? This book talks a lot about how we we won't grow on our own, that we need others for that process. What is something we can do this fall that would be a step into the supernatural?

Chapter 2

"We'd better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit's dynamite!"

After the shock and awe campaign of the first chapter, the book now turns to look at why this Mega Shift is happening. What is causing the transition from megastar, traditional Christianity into supernatural, "everyman" Christianity?

Chapter 2 lists ten different "engines of change" that are behind this shift.* I'll only focus on one of those, but you are welcome to bring up others in your comments. I am intrigued by the concept of "rabbit teams."

Rabbit teams are small groups of people that go out into a community with the plan to quickly multiply (see pages 67-70 in the book). They gather a small group of disciples and train them to do exactly what the rabbit team does. Then this new team goes and and creates additional rabbit teams. These groups are small, agile, and focused on rapidly creating new disciples. The example team given in the book is starting about 50 different churches each year.

This concept seems to be a natural result of the idea of empowerment, that God wants to use normal, everyday people to spread His kingdom. Rather than waiting for pastors to tell them what to do all the time, this approach capitalizes on people's initiative and empowerment by the Spirit. Rather than waiting for the next big event to invite our friends to, it challenges us to go out let God use us out there in the "real world." What would that look like if even a handful of those kind of groups were set loose on campus?

It would be incredible to see this take off at Purdue. And really, that has been our heart since day 1 - that God would raise up teams of students to go out and bring God's transforming power to the other 40,000 students on campus.

I don't know if even a holy hand grenade from Antioch could stop that.

What do you think about rabbit teams? Or maybe you're more excited about one of the other things discussed in chapter 2? Take a minute and share your thoughts with the rest of us!


*(1) Intercessory Prayer - intense, strategic prayer for people and areas.
(2) Empowerment - equipping ALL of God's people to be ministers, not just the "pastors."
(3) Reconciliation - restoring people and groups that have historically been divided.
(4) Identificational Repentance - repenting on behalf of others.
(5) Spiritual Mapping - researching the spiritual background of an area in order to have more informed intercession.
(6) Rabbit Teams - groups that travel around, starting other groups designed to multiply quickly.
(7) On-Site Prayer - praying on-location for specific areas or people.
(8) Fasting - going without food for a period of time. "Praying without words."
(9) Leadership Teamwork -groups working together for the a greater good.
(10) Media Evangelism - spreading the gospel be means of radio, TV, film, and the internet.

Chapter 1

I don't know about anyone else, but that sums up chapter one. The author basically picks up a hammer and smashes apart my definition of "normal."

There wasn't a lot of traditional teaching in this chapter. He seemed more intent on using stories about miracles around the world to awaken a hunger in us for more of God. Did it work on you? I know I'm pumped for chapter two and learning more about how to change the way I live. But until then, let's take a minute and discuss chapter one.

What was your favorite story of the chapter? What was the miracle that got your engine revving more than any other?

For me, it has to be the Buddhist monk who came back from the dead (p.32-33). How wild is that? The guy dies, goes to hell, sees Goliath there (whom he'd never heard of before), gets raised from the dead, and then tells everyone that the Christians are right and we all need to repent! Wow. For me it was especially cool that he saw Goliath there. If it was somebody with a Christian background, you could chalk it up to a hallucination or something. The doctors would say that the guys was simply remembering stories he had heard and dreaming about them or something. But this guy had never read or heard the stories, and he describes these people exactly. Wow.

By the way, I tried to follow the directions in the book to get the full story, but the email he gave wouldn't work for me. I looked up the transcript online, and you can read the full version here:
http://bibleprobe.com/backfromthedead.htm
There are also pictures of him on this site:
http://worldrec.info/2006/10/29/remarkable-testimonies-buddhist-monk-athet-pyan-shinthaw-paulu-and-paul-williams-buddhist-scholar-converts-to-christianity/

So tell me, what rocked your world from this chapter?